---
name: mt-family-office-setup
description: "Hub Guide for setting up a single-family office in Malta: the usual building blocks (family holding company, family investment company, foundation or trust, management company), how each is taxed with links to the deep Guides, the management company's own corporate tax, VAT, payroll and licensing questions, the Family Office Residency programme and the non-dom minimum tax, a setup checklist with the order of steps and documents, what a Malta structure does not do, when another country fits better, and a worked hypothetical family structure."
license: "AGPL-3.0-or-later (code) / OpenAccountants Guide License v1.0 (content)"
metadata:
  source: openaccountants
  openaccountants_url: "https://www.openaccountants.com/skills/mt-family-office-setup"
  jurisdiction: "MT"
  tax_year: "2026"
  last_updated: "2026-10-12"
  review_status: "pending_review"
---

# Setting up a family office in Malta: building blocks, tax touch-points and the order of steps

Figures are for tax year 2026. Malta taxes by year of assessment, so income of calendar 2026 is taxed in year of assessment 2027. This Guide is the starting point for a principal, or an adviser, who is thinking about running a family's wealth from Malta. It names the usual Maltese building blocks, says in one table how each is taxed and which Guide covers it in depth, sets out the family office's own running costs, gives the order of the setup steps and the documents each step needs, and says what a Malta structure does not do. It does not repeat the deep Guides; it links to them. Pages were read on legislation.mt and residencymalta.gov.mt on 4 October 2026. The Acts print most rates and fractions in words, and this Guide keeps them in words.

The deep Guides in this set are `mt-holding-company-participation-exemption`, `mt-foundations-and-trusts`, `mt-company-residence-and-substance`, `mt-residence-programmes-for-wealthy-families` and `mt-inheritance-and-succession`. For a family member moving to Malta, see `moving-to-malta-tax-residence` and `mt-non-dom`. For the comparison with other countries, see `family-holding-company-location-compared` and `family-office-residency-regimes-compared`.

## What a single-family office is, and the Maltese building blocks

"Single-family office" is not a term defined in the Malta tax Acts read for this Guide. In this Guide it means the people and entities that hold, manage and administer one family's wealth, and serve no outside clients. In Malta the usual building blocks are these. A family uses some or all of them; none is required.

1. **A family holding company.** A company registered in Malta that holds the family's strategic shareholdings (operating companies, large stakes). Its main tax question is the participation exemption.
2. **A family investment company.** A company registered in Malta that holds the liquid portfolio (bonds, funds, small listed stakes). Its income is mostly interest and portfolio dividends, so its main tax questions are the company rate, the shareholder refund and the elective final tax.
3. **A foundation or a trust.** A vehicle at the top that holds the companies for the family over generations. A Malta foundation is constituted by public deed or by will under the Second Schedule to the Civil Code; the assets of a trust are held by its trustee.
4. **A management company.** A company registered in Malta that employs the family office team (investment staff, accountants, administration) and charges the family entities for its services.

## Tax treatment of each building block

This table states only the headline rule and points to the Guide that proves it. The figures behind it are in the source tables further down.

| Building block | Malta tax in short | Deep Guide |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Family holding company | Taxed as a company at the article 56(6) rate. Dividends and gains from a "participating holding" are exempt if the company leaves them out of its return and, for dividends, the anti-abuse conditions are met; gains on a holding in a Malta-resident company must also pass the beneficial owner test (Cap. 123 art. 12(1)(u)). It may instead pay tax and let shareholders claim a refund (Cap. 372 art. 48). | `mt-holding-company-participation-exemption` |
| Family investment company | Taxed as a company at the article 56(6) rate on interest and portfolio income. Shareholders may claim the refund under Cap. 372 art. 48(4A), at a lower fraction for passive interest. For a Malta-resident individual shareholder, whether article 12(1)(c)(iii) of the Income Tax Act and the last proviso to article 48(1) of Cap. 372 bar that refund is not settled; see `mt-holding-company-participation-exemption`. The company may instead elect the final tax in S.L. 123.217, which has a floor and a five-year lock-in. | `mt-holding-company-participation-exemption` |
| Foundation | By default taxed in the same manner as a company ordinarily resident and domiciled in Malta (S.L. 123.114 reg. 3). Its administrators may irrevocably elect trust treatment (reg. 4). | `mt-foundations-and-trusts` |
| Trust with a resident trustee | By default income allocated to beneficiaries is taxed in their hands (Cap. 123 art. 27D(3)(e) and (8)). Where all the income arises outside Malta (or is article 12(1)(c) income) AND every beneficiary is either not ordinarily resident in Malta, not domiciled in Malta, or wholly exempt under article 12, the income is treated as derived directly by the beneficiaries (art. 27D(3)(b)). A trust may elect to be taxed as a company only where its written instrument provides that its income shall comprise only investment income, and its trustee is resident in Malta and either authorised under article 43(3) of the Trusts and Trustees Act or exempt from authorisation under article 43(6) of that Act (art. 27D(1)). | `mt-foundations-and-trusts` |
| Management company | Taxed as a company at the article 56(6) rate on its profit; its staff are on Malta payroll. VAT on its charges depends on the place of supply and the exemptions in the VAT Act. See "The family office's own costs" below. | `malta-payroll`, `malta-ssc`, `malta-vat-return` |
| Where any company or vehicle is resident, and what substance it needs | A company incorporated in Malta on or after 1 July 1994 is resident in Malta; any body of persons whose control and management are exercised in Malta is resident too (Cap. 123 art. 2(1)). | `mt-company-residence-and-substance` |
| Family members who move to Malta | Residence, domicile, the remittance basis, the non-dom minimum tax and the residence programmes. | `mt-residence-programmes-for-wealthy-families`, `mt-non-dom`, `moving-to-malta-tax-residence` |
| Death, gifts and passing the structure on | Malta charges duty on certain transfers, including transfers causa mortis, under the [Duty on Documents and Transfers Act, Cap. 364](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/364/eng/pdf). | `mt-inheritance-and-succession` |

### Figures from the Income Tax Act, Cap. 123

| Item | Value | Note (verbatim from the page) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Source | all figures below | https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/123/eng/pdf |
| Company rate, article 56(6); also a foundation taxed as a company and a trust that elected under article 27D(1) | thirty-five cents on every euro | "at the rate of thirty-five cents (0.35) on every euro of the chargeable income of every" |
| Participating holding, route (a) of the article 2(1) definition (other routes exist; see `mt-holding-company-participation-exemption`) (and carrying at least five percent of any two of the right to vote, profits available for distribution and assets on a winding up) | at least five percent of the equity shares | "a company holds directly at least five percent of the equity shares" |
| "passive interest or royalties", article 2(1): interest not derived from a trade or business that suffered no foreign tax, or foreign tax at a rate below this | 5% | "at a rate of tax which is less than five per cent (5%)" |
| Tax deducted by a Malta company from an untaxed dividend paid to a "recipient", article 62(1) | fifteen per cent | "deduct therefrom tax at a rate of fifteen per cent" |
| Non-dom minimum tax trigger, article 56(27): foreign income derived (both readings below) | EUR 35,000 | "amounting to not less than thirty five thousand euro (€35,000)" |
| Non-dom minimum tax, article 56(27) | EUR 5,000 | "not less than five thousand euro (€5,000) per annum" |
| Company residence by incorporation, article 2(1) | incorporated in Malta on or after 1 July 1994 | "provided that a company incorporated in Malta on or after 1st July 1994 shall be resident in Malta" |

### Figures from the Income Tax Management Act, Cap. 372, and S.L. 123.217

| Item | Value | Note (verbatim from the page) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Source | all figures below | https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/372/eng/pdf |
| Shareholder refund on dividends from the Maltese taxed account or foreign income account, article 48(4A)(a) | six-sevenths | "may claim a refund of six-sevenths of the Advance Company Income Tax" |
| Refund where the profits are passive interest or royalties, or dividends from a participating holding failing the article 12(1)(u) conditions, article 48(4A)(a) proviso (i) | five-sevenths | "the rate of refund shall be of five-sevenths of the said Advance Company Income Tax" |
| Foreign income account profits, article 48(4)(a) (the route where the company claimed double taxation relief, since article 48(4A) is then barred) | two-thirds | "may claim a refund of two-thirds of the Malta tax paid by the company" |

| Item | Value | Note (verbatim from the page) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Source | all figures below | https://legislation.mt/eli/sl/123.217/eng/pdf |
| Elective final tax, regulation 3(1)(b), in place of the article 56(6) rate | fifteen cents on every euro | "at the rate of fifteen cents (0.15) on every euro of the chargeable income" |
| Lock-in before the entity may return to the ordinary system, regulation 3(3) | five (5) years | "shall not be made before the end of the five (5)- year period" |
| Floor, regulation 3(4)(a) | ordinary tax less the refunds claimable by all shareholders, applying article 43(6) of the Act where applicable | "and applying the provisions of article 43(6) of the Act, where applicable" |

## The family office's own costs: the management company

**Corporate tax.** A management company incorporated in Malta is resident in Malta (the date in the Cap. 123 table above) and pays tax on its chargeable income at the article 56(6) rate. In working out its income, it deducts outgoings and expenses only to the extent they were wholly and exclusively incurred in the production of the income ([Cap. 123 art. 14(1)](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/123/eng/pdf)). The same test applies when a family company deducts the fee it pays the management company. How the fee is priced between related family entities is in `malta-transfer-pricing`. The annual accounts and audit are in `malta-financial-statements`. Forming the company is in `malta-formation`.

**VAT.** The [VAT Act, Cap. 406](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/406/eng/pdf), article 19(1), charges tax on a taxable supply at "eighteen per cent of the taxable value of the supply", other than the supplies in sub-article (2). Article 7 sends the question of where a supply takes place to the Third Schedule, and article 9(1) exempts the supplies in Parts One and Two of the Fifth Schedule. So whether the management company's charge to a family company bears Malta VAT, and whether the family company can recover it, turns on where the customer is established, what the service is and whether an exemption applies. This Guide does not settle that. Use `malta-vat-return`, and refer where the family companies make only exempt or no supplies.

**Staff.** The management company withholds income tax under the FSS and pays Class 1 social security for its employees. See `malta-payroll` and `malta-ssc`. Staff who move to Malta for the job may also look at the individual routes in `moving-to-malta-tax-residence`.

**Licensing.** Managing investments, acting as trustee or administering a foundation for others can need a licence from the Malta Financial Services Authority. The Income Tax Act itself refers to trustees authorised under article 43 of the Trusts and Trustees Act, Cap. 331 ([Cap. 123 art. 27D(1)](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/123/eng/pdf)). Whether a management company that serves one family needs one depends on what it does and for whom. This Guide does not state those rules. Refer before the company starts.

## Family Office Residency and the other residence routes

The Residency Malta home page lists a programme called "Family Office Residency" ([Residency Malta](https://residencymalta.gov.mt/)). Its terms are on pages that refused automated access (status code 403), so no condition, fee or tax effect of it is stated here. Refer to the agency and see `family-office-residency-regimes-compared`.

The routes whose terms can be read (non-dom ordinary residence, the Global Residence Programme, the Residence Programme, the Malta Permanent Residence Programme and the nomad permit) are in `mt-residence-programmes-for-wealthy-families`, with the individual position in `mt-non-dom` and `moving-to-malta-tax-residence`.

One rule catches family members who move to Malta and keep their wealth abroad. Article 56(27) of the [Income Tax Act](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/123/eng/pdf) applies to an individual who is ordinarily resident but not domiciled in Malta, to whom provisos (i) and (ii) of article 4(1) apply, who is not taxed under another minimum-tax scheme, and who "derives income (including, in the case of a married couple whose income is chargeable to tax in terms of article 49 of the Act, the income derived by both spouses) amounting to not less than thirty five thousand euro (€35,000) ... arising outside Malta ... but which is not received or not fully received in Malta". That person has a yearly tax liability of at least the minimum tax in the Cap. 123 table. The page can be read two ways. On the literal reading, the trigger counts all the foreign income derived, part of which may have been brought to Malta. On a narrower reading, only the part not received in Malta counts. The accountant has not ruled between them. The tax authority's guidance on this point could not be read for this Guide. Where the two readings give different answers, refer.

## The method, step by step

This is the setup order. Each step names the law and the documents it needs.

1. **Agree the family's facts.** Where each family member is resident and domiciled now and will be after the move, what the assets are and where they sit, and which home-country rules apply to each member. Nothing below can be decided without these answers (see "Ask the client first").
2. **Take home-country advice first.** Moving assets into a Malta company can be a disposal, and owning a Malta company can bring home-country controlled foreign company rules. See `cfc-and-substance-rules-compared` and `exit-taxes-when-a-family-moves`. Malta law does not answer those questions.
3. **Choose the top vehicle, if any.** A foundation may only be constituted by a "public deed inter vivos or by a will", and the deed must carry the minimum endowment in the Cap. 16 table below ([Civil Code, Cap. 16, Second Schedule, art. 29](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/16/eng/pdf)). The deed of foundation must state the name, which includes the word "foundation", the registered address in Malta, the purposes, the constitutive assets and the board of administration (art. 29(4)). Documents: the deed, and, where the endowment is not cash, the administrators' statement of value attached to the application for registration (art. 29(3)). For a trust, the trust instrument and a resident trustee; tax rules are in [Cap. 123 art. 27B to 27D](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/123/eng/pdf) and `mt-foundations-and-trusts`.
4. **Make the tax elections for the top vehicle in time.** A trust that will elect company treatment (only with such a trustee; see `mt-foundations-and-trusts` on private trustees) under [Cap. 123 art. 27D(1)](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/123/eng/pdf) files the election form "not later than thirty days from the date of the establishment of such trust or the appointment of a resident trustee whichever is the later". The election is irrevocable. A foundation that wants trust treatment gives the Commissioner written notice under [S.L. 123.114 reg. 4](https://legislation.mt/eli/sl/123.114/eng/pdf); that election is also irrevocable, and the regulation states no deadline, so settle the timing before income arises.
5. **Form the companies.** Holding company, investment company and management company, each registered in Malta. Documents and the registry process are in `malta-formation`. A company incorporated in Malta on or after the date in the Cap. 123 table is resident in Malta ([Cap. 123 art. 2(1)](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/123/eng/pdf)). Board composition and where decisions are taken are in `mt-company-residence-and-substance`.
6. **Move the assets in.** Each transfer is a transaction in the home country and, for some assets, in Malta. Duty under the [Duty on Documents and Transfers Act, Cap. 364](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/364/eng/pdf) can apply to transfers of immovable property in Malta and of marketable securities (article 42 charges "two euro for every one hundred euro" in the cases it lists, including some transfers of foreign securities). Where seventy-five percent or more of a company's assets, leaving out current assets other than immovable property, are immovable property or rights over it, article 42(2)(a) increases the duty "by three euro for every one hundred euro or part thereof". See `mt-foundations-and-trusts` for assets going in and out.
7. **Test each holding of the holding company** against the participating holding definition and the anti-abuse conditions ([Cap. 123 art. 2(1) and 12(1)(u)](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/123/eng/pdf)). Documents: share registers, the subsidiaries' residence and foreign tax evidence. See `mt-holding-company-participation-exemption`.
8. **Decide the investment company's tax route** before its first return: the article 56(6) rate with shareholder refunds under [Cap. 372 art. 48](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/372/eng/pdf), or the final tax under [S.L. 123.217](https://legislation.mt/eli/sl/123.217/eng/pdf). The final tax is elected by a notice in the form and by the date the Commissioner sets (reg. 3(2)), and locks in for the period in the table above. A shareholder who claims a refund must be "for such purpose registered in such manner as may be prescribed" (Cap. 372 art. 48(4A)(a)).
9. **Set up the management company's payroll and VAT position.** Employer registration, FSS and Class 1 in `malta-payroll` and `malta-ssc`; VAT registration and the treatment of the charges in `malta-vat-return` ([Cap. 406](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/406/eng/pdf)). Write the service agreement and fee basis before the first invoice.
10. **Check licensing** for the management company and any trustee or administrator role (refer; see "The family office's own costs").
11. **Family members who move.** Residence route and the article 56(27) minimum tax: `mt-residence-programmes-for-wealthy-families` and `mt-non-dom` ([Cap. 123 art. 4(1) and 56(27)](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/123/eng/pdf)).
12. **Every year.** Company returns and accounts; refund claims within the time limit in Cap. 372 art. 48(5); trust returns and beneficiary certificates where the trust excludes allocated income (Cap. 123 art. 27D(4)(b)); tax deducted on untaxed dividends paid to "recipients" (art. 62); duty and succession planning reviewed (`mt-inheritance-and-succession`).

| Item | Value | Note (verbatim from the page) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Source | all figures below | https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/16/eng/pdf |
| Minimum endowment in the deed of a foundation (not a public benefit foundation), Second Schedule art. 29(2) | EUR 1,164.69 | "one thousand and one hundred and sixty-four euro and sixty-nine cents (€1,164.69)" |

## What Malta does not do for the family

- **No yearly tax on net wealth was found.** None of the Acts read for this Guide (the Income Tax Act, the Income Tax Management Act, the Duty on Documents and Transfers Act, the VAT Act) charges a yearly tax on a person's net wealth. A statute does not print an absence, so the accountant should confirm this for the family's assets.
- **No separate inheritance tax in the Acts read, but duty on death.** Transfers causa mortis of Malta immovable property (article 32) and of marketable securities (article 42, with the notice under article 45) are charged under the [Duty on Documents and Transfers Act](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/364/eng/pdf), with reliefs. See `mt-inheritance-and-succession`.
- **It does not change foreign tax.** A Malta structure changes Malta tax only. A family member who lives elsewhere is taxed by that country on what that country taxes, including, in many countries, the income of a company or trust they control under controlled foreign company or attribution rules. See `cfc-and-substance-rules-compared`. This Guide states no foreign rule.
- **It shelters only income from participating holdings.** The participation exemption is for income and gains "derived by a company registered in Malta from a participating holding or from the transfer of such holding" ([Cap. 123 art. 12(1)(u)](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/123/eng/pdf)). A gain on a holding in a Malta-resident company is exempt only under the beneficial owner test in `mt-holding-company-participation-exemption`. Sales of Malta property follow `mt-capital-gains`.
- **Malta has its own controlled foreign company rule** for a Malta company's low-taxed foreign subsidiaries and permanent establishments (regulation 7 of [S.L. 123.187](https://legislation.mt/eli/sl/123.187/eng/pdf)), covered in `mt-company-residence-and-substance`.

## When another country fits better

Malta suits a family that wants an EU company with the refund system or the participation exemption, a civil-law foundation or a trust, and English-language administration. Another country may fit better where the family's home country treats a Malta company as low-taxed, where the family wants no corporate tax at the company level, or where the principal wants a residence regime Malta does not offer. The comparisons are in `family-holding-company-location-compared` and `family-office-residency-regimes-compared`. Trusts against foundations across countries: `trusts-vs-foundations-by-country`.

## Worked hypothetical: a family moving its investments into a Malta structure

All amounts in this section are hypothetical. The family members live outside Malta, none of them is ordinarily resident or domiciled in Malta, none acts on behalf of such a person, and none is an EU or EEA individual taxed under the provisos to article 56(1)(c) (the four kinds of "recipient" in [Cap. 123 art. 61(a)](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/123/eng/pdf)). The family has EUR 50,000,000 of investments and puts them into Malta companies that the family members own directly. A foundation on top is left out to keep each step provable; see `mt-foundations-and-trusts` for how one changes the answer.

**Who holds what.**
- Holding company: EUR 30,000,000, made up of three stakes of EUR 10,000,000, each at least five percent of the equity shares (and of the votes and profits) of a company resident in the European Union. Each is a participating holding under route (a) ([Cap. 123 art. 2(1)](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/123/eng/pdf)).
- Investment company: EUR 20,000,000 of foreign bonds that pay interest with no foreign tax ([Cap. 123 art. 2(1)](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/123/eng/pdf), "passive interest or royalties").
- Management company: employs the team. Its costs are EUR 900,000 and it charges the family companies EUR 990,000, excluding any VAT ([Cap. 123 art. 14(1)](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/123/eng/pdf)).

**Year 2026, touch-points.**

0. Moving the stakes in. For duty, shares are "marketable securities" ("a holding of share capital in any company"). Article 42(1)(a)(iii) of the [Duty on Documents and Transfers Act](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/364/eng/pdf) charges duty "on every document whereby any other foreign marketable security is transferred inter vivos to, or by any person resident in Malta". Where the shares are not in a property company or a company with more than half its business interests in Malta, "no duty shall be chargeable where such transfer is effected through a local bank or through a person holding an investment services licence under the Investment Services Act". This example does not compute the duty; settle it before the transfer. The bonds are not shares.
1. Holding company. It receives EUR 1,200,000 of dividends from the three stakes. The subsidiaries are resident in the European Union, so condition (i)(1) of the anti-abuse proviso is met. Because the subsidiaries are in the EU, the exemption "shall only apply to the extent that such profits are not deductible by the relevant subsidiary in that other EU Member State"; this example assumes no subsidiary deducts the dividend. If the company leaves the dividends out of its return, they are exempt and its Malta tax on them is nil ([Cap. 123 art. 12(1)(u)](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/123/eng/pdf)). Which tax account the exempt profits go to is not settled. On the Act's definitions they appear to fall to the untaxed account, and that is the reading used here; confirm it (see `mt-holding-company-participation-exemption`). When it pays them on to the family, the family members are not "recipients" under article 61(a) (on the assumptions above, including the article 61(a)(iv) assumption; a family member with an EU or EEA passport must be checked against it), so no tax is deducted under article 62, and under article 66 the dividend is not "charged to tax under this Act in the hands of such person". Their home countries may tax it.
2. Investment company, ordinary route. Interest of EUR 400,000 is passive interest (no foreign tax). Tax at thirty-five cents on every euro is EUR 140,000 ([Cap. 123 art. 56(6)](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/123/eng/pdf)). The profits go to the foreign income account. When they are paid out as a dividend, each registered shareholder may claim five-sevenths of that tax, EUR 100,000 in total ([Cap. 372 art. 48(4A)(a) proviso (i)](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/372/eng/pdf)). Net Malta tax: EUR 40,000. No refund is due until a dividend is paid and claimed, within the time limit in article 48(5).
3. Investment company, final tax route instead. Fifteen cents on every euro of EUR 400,000 is EUR 60,000. Where the profits are paid out and the shareholders can claim the five-sevenths refund, the floor is the ordinary tax less the refunds claimable, EUR 140,000 less EUR 100,000, which is EUR 40,000; EUR 60,000 is above it, so EUR 60,000 is due. It is final and gives no refund ([S.L. 123.217 reg. 3(4)](https://legislation.mt/eli/sl/123.217/eng/pdf)). On profits paid out, the ordinary route with the refund costs less in Malta. On retained profits the answer turns on the words "claimed or claimable" in regulation 3(4)(a): if nothing is claimable before a dividend is paid, the floor is the full ordinary tax and the election saves nothing. That is not settled; confirm before relying on it. The final tax route removes the refund claim, and it locks in for five years.
4. Management company. Profit EUR 990,000 less EUR 900,000 is EUR 90,000, taxed at thirty-five cents on every euro: EUR 31,500 ([Cap. 123 art. 56(6)](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/123/eng/pdf)), assuming every cost is deductible under article 14(1). Payroll for its staff follows `malta-payroll` and `malta-ssc`. VAT on the EUR 990,000 charge is not computed here; see "The family office's own costs".
5. The investment company's computation above ignores the management fee. Whether, and how much of, its share of the EUR 990,000 it may deduct under [Cap. 123 art. 14(1)](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/123/eng/pdf) changes its tax, and it is a question for the accountant.

## Ask the client first

- Where is each family member resident and domiciled now, and where will they be in 2026 and after? Will anyone move to Malta? This decides whether Malta dividends are taxed in Malta (article 61 "recipient") and whether article 56(27) applies.
- What are the assets, where are they, and does any company hold immovable property in Malta? This decides the participation exemption, duty on transfers and the property company rules.
- For each strategic holding: how much of the equity does the family hold, where is the company resident, and what foreign tax does it pay? Can the subsidiary deduct the dividend it pays? This decides whether the holding is a participating holding and passes the anti-abuse conditions.
- Will the investment portfolio earn mainly interest, dividends or gains, and with what foreign tax? This decides the refund fraction and whether the final tax election helps.
- Does the family want a foundation or a trust on top, and will any beneficiary be ordinarily resident and domiciled in Malta? One such beneficiary changes how a trust is taxed.
- What will the management company do, and for whom? This decides VAT, transfer pricing and whether a licence is needed.

## When to refuse or refer

- Licensing of the management company, a trustee or a foundation administrator: refer to a Malta regulatory adviser. This Guide states no licensing rule.
- Immigration and any Family Office Residency or other residence permit: refer to the Residency Malta Agency or an immigration adviser. Refuse to state a family office residency condition, fee or tax effect from this Guide; no allowed page prints them.
- Banking and account opening: refer.
- Home-country tax of every family member, including exit taxes, controlled foreign company rules and the tax of trusts and foundations abroad: refer to an adviser in that country (`cfc-and-substance-rules-compared`, `exit-taxes-when-a-family-moves`, `succession-and-forced-heirship-compared`).
- A non-dom family member whose foreign income derived is at least the article 56(27) threshold but who keeps less than that abroad: the two readings differ; refer.
- Refer before telling a Malta-resident individual shareholder to rely on a refund under article 48(4) or (4A) of Cap. 372: article 12(1)(c)(iii) of the Income Tax Act and the bar in the last proviso to article 48(1) may reach it, and the text does not settle this (`mt-holding-company-participation-exemption`).
- VAT on the management company's charges where a family company makes exempt or no supplies: refer (`malta-vat-return`).
- Any structure whose main purpose is to reduce tax: the Commissioner may disregard a trust used "with the sole or main purpose of reducing the amount of tax payable by a person" ([Cap. 123 art. 27D(10)](https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/123/eng/pdf)). Refer.
- Malta property, Malta-resident subsidiaries and gains on them: see `mt-capital-gains` and `mt-holding-company-participation-exemption`, and refer where a Malta-resident owner sells a Malta-resident subsidiary.

## Sources

- Income Tax Act, Cap. 123 (consolidated, point in time 10 March 2026): https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/123/eng/pdf
- Income Tax Management Act, Cap. 372: https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/372/eng/pdf
- Final Income Tax Without Imputation Regulations, S.L. 123.217: https://legislation.mt/eli/sl/123.217/eng/pdf
- Foundations (Income Tax) Regulations, S.L. 123.114: https://legislation.mt/eli/sl/123.114/eng/pdf
- EU Anti-Tax Avoidance Directives Implementation Regulations, S.L. 123.187: https://legislation.mt/eli/sl/123.187/eng/pdf
- Value Added Tax Act, Cap. 406: https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/406/eng/pdf
- Duty on Documents and Transfers Act, Cap. 364: https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/364/eng/pdf
- Civil Code, Cap. 16, Second Schedule: https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/16/eng/pdf
- Residency Malta Agency home page: https://residencymalta.gov.mt/

This Guide is a draft from official pages, not tax advice. Rules change and facts differ; have a Malta accountant confirm the structure before acting.

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## Talk to a verified accountant

This guide is maintained by the OpenAccountants network — accountants who put
their name behind the tax answers AI gives people. The live, always-current
version (and the professional behind it) is at
[openaccountants.com](https://www.openaccountants.com).

- Use it in your AI: https://www.openaccountants.com/connect
- Meet the accountants: https://www.openaccountants.com/network

> **General reference only.** This document does not constitute tax, legal, or
> financial advice. Verify figures against the cited primary sources or with a
> licensed professional before relying on them.

## Today's figures and who stands behind this skill

This file is an AI skill (tax rules your AI follows) from OpenAccountants, copied on 2026-10-12. Rates, thresholds and deadlines change. For the current version of this skill, its official sources and the named accountant (if any) who stands behind it, call `get_skill` with slug `mt-family-office-setup` on the OpenAccountants connector (https://www.openaccountants.com/connect), or read https://www.openaccountants.com/skills/mt-family-office-setup. If neither is available, confirm every figure against the official source pages cited above before relying on it.